Interesting ride today. We returned to the bike path, covering the first 15 to 20 miles with no traffic. It turns out that not going to Hudson was an unexpected bonus. We’d heard about what used to be the highest railroad bridge in the US, now for walking and biking over the Hudson. The bridge is famous because it is so far above the river and the view is spectacular! Had our destination been the town of Hudson, we would have had to make a detour to see the bridge; something we would have done but as it turned out, the bridge was on our route. We stopped in the middle for about 20 minutes to enjoy the view, take pictures and watch the people. It was a Saturday morning and there was some kind of event on the west end of the bridge that was attracting a lot of people. About five miles after crossing the bridge, we said goodbye to the bike trail and took off on the roads.  We leave behind the railroad cuts and a series of chain lakes and swamps and the quiet of the woods.

The route took us through beautiful small farms and secluded neighborhoods. At one point when running low on water (it was relatively hot and quite humid that day), Len stopped and asked an elderly couple if he could get some water. We talked for about 10 minutes and learned that they’d owned the property for 70 years and had lived there for 64 years! They had 40 acres, 10 of which they sold a few years ago. In the front yard next to a barn was an old car which the man purchased new 64 years ago. It still looked new! After filling Len’s water bottle and talking a little more, we departed for the final 5 miles to the Red Ranch Inn. Our new friends of the 40-acres told us that the place next door to the Red Ranch Inn was great for dinner, and we decided to check it out, The Rip Van Winkle Brewery and Pub.

The Red Ranch Inn turned out to be less than a half step up from the Budget Motor Inn of Mahopac. The room was relatively clean, and the beds were soft. The Rip Van Winkle met expectations and was well air conditioned. We turned lunch and dinner into a single meal, each of us consuming 2 pints of beer and eating very slowly.